St Helens fans honour Cunningham with man of bronze vote

St Helens supporters have voted Keiron Cunningham as the player they want to see immortalised in bronze outside their new stadium.

The town's council balloted fans to decide who should be the subject of a statue commemorating the club's history when they move to their proposed new home on a former glassworks site near the town centre.

The former Great Britain hooker and Saints' current longest-serving player attracted almost half of the 22,000 votes cast. He was followed in the voting by the legendary winger Tom van Vollenhoven, the current full-back Paul Wellens, and the great Alex Murphy.

"This is a marvellous response to our plans for the statue," said the leader of St Helens Council, Brian Spencer. Saints hope to start work soon on the new stadium, which will replace Knowsley Road.

The club are to stage a testimonial match for their former Great Britain captain, Paul Sculthorpe, on 2 February. Wakefield Trinity will provide the opposition at Knowsley Road, which will mean Sculthorpe lining up against his younger brother, Danny, who is at Wakefield. The elder Sculthorpe is recovering from knee surgery and hoping to start the 2008 season fully fit.

The Widnes coach, Steve McCormack, has admitted that time is running out on his hunt for a scrum-half. McCormack is trying to fill the gap left by the departures of half-backs Dennis Moran, Joel Penny and Richard Myler, when the club went into administration at the end of last season. He has denied, however, being interested in Swinton's Liam McGovern or Phil Hasty of York. "It's a key position, but it's important that we get the right one," McCormack said.